ESSENTIALS

Vivek is keen to show us the nearby but much less-visited 16th-century Adham Khan’s Tomb. In an unprepossessing setting behind a bus terminal near the White Smile Dental Clinic, it’s a striking structure, domed and octagonal. A 19th-century British official converted into his home, but it’s now converted back to a tomb.

Students sit inside absorbed in their mobile phones and a couple of elderly men are having a break from visiting relatives in a nearby hospital. “They are curious to see you; no tourists come here,” says Vivek. “And you are taking notes, so they think you are important.”

He walks us around the Archaeological Park. It twitters with parakeets, black kites soar overhead, wild boars trot daintily around. This was overgrown forest until a few years ago, which explains why so many of the monuments – including a threestorey stepwell, whose water is reached down flights of steps – are so well-preserved.

We pass a notice instructing visitors not to “erect tent or put banners and umbrella” and to avoid “throwing polythene, old statue and old clothes”. If you want to practise your statuethrowing, go elsewhere.

Three miles or so up the road is 14th-century Siri, City No 2. There’s not much to see, but it’s arguably the most charming and certainly the quietest of the lost cities. A fine 15th-century mosque is tucked away in a great expanse of parkland, which a picnicking family have to themselves. Amazingly for Delhi, there is no litter. Why? “Nobody comes here,” says Vivek, simply. “Nothing is here.”

The same could be said of Jahanpanah (City No 4) but certainly not of 14th-century Tughlakabad

(City No 3). Vivek has known this imposing ruin from childhood and it’s a favourite of his – “a nice place to imagine how life used to be at that time”.

Its fort has formidably massive ramparts, an abandoned subterranean souk and four miles (6.5km) of outer walls. When Clare and I were last here more than 20 years ago, it felt very remote from central Delhi and was practically deserted apart from grazing cows, mongooses and shifty men who whispered offers of “weed”.

Now it’s heaving with visitors, not least because it features in many Indian films. Teenagers clamber up the ramparts to pose with selfie sticks and chorus Bollywood hits. Cox & Kings (020 3642 0861; coxandkings.co.uk) has a 10-day/eight-night private tour of the Golden Triangle from £1,795 per person, including international flights, one domestic flight, all transfers, excursions and breakfast daily. It features four nights at the Taj Mahal, Delhi; three nights at Shahpura House, Jaipur; and one night at Coral Tree Homestay, Agra.